Abu Bakr al Shibli (861–946 CE) was born in Baghdad, of a Persian family, and became a student of the the renowned Sufi Shaikh Junayd Baghdadi. As he progressed on the path, Shibli’s practice and behaviour became steadily more extreme, and he was frequently imprisoned as a lunatic, although some say he merely feigned insanity to be free of social conventions.

It is said that on festival days Shibli would put on a black robe of mourning. People objected to this, and asked hm, “Why, O Shibli, are your mourning on a day of joy?”

“I mourn,” Shibli replied, “because people don’t have love for God, and are content with outward happiness. It is a cause for great sorrow.”

The people replied, “Are we not lovers of God?”

Shibli pointed to a block of firewood that was burning there. “It should be like that,” he said.

The people were puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“See the fire burning one end, and water coming out of the other end,” Shibli replied. “If the fire of the love for God is burning in the heart, the sure sign is that the eyes are flooded with tears of love, not smiling with outer joy.”